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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko anticipates that the AlphaTauri situation regarding Pierre Gasly and Nyck de Vries should be sorted by the end of the 2022 F1 Japenese GP. Despite Pierre Gasly's contract being until the end of 2023, he will be looking to join Alpine next season. Gasly was found to be the most apt replacement for Fernando Alonso after things didn't work out with Oscar Piastri.
AlphaTauri wouldn't have let go of Gasly without an appropriate replacement and after Colton Herrera's deal fell out due to his lack of super licence, Nyck de Vries emerged as a viable candidate. The Formula E champion showcased his raw pace and talent in Monza when he scored points for Williams in his F1 debut, beating Nicolas Latifi. AlphaTauri and de Vries have agreed on terms, but it can't be made official till Gasly's move to Alpine is clarified.
Helmut Marko told the national public broadcaster ORF that they are hoping this entire situation will be cleared out by next weekend in Suzuka. He said:
“There are talks and we hope to have a clear situation by next weekend. I assume that should be decided by Suzuka. [But only] then can we say what’s the deal.”
He added:
“First the Gasly thing has to be clarified then it will be decided who comes to AlphaTauri. For AlphaTauri, it must not be a deterioration. That means it must be a high-profile and fast driver.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, on the other hand:
“Pierre Gasly is under contract with Red Bull Racing. That hasn’t changed."
He also said:
“Everyone assumes he’s gone. But he is still under contract with us and assigned to AlphaTauri. As long as that doesn’t change, there’s nothing to say about possible successors.”
Red Bull's sister team needs the fee from Alpine first to let Pierre Gasly go before his contract expiration.
Gasly upset with AlphaTauri for 'throwing away' Singapore GP
Pierre Gasly was considerably upset with his team for basically throwing away the chance to get the best results from the Singapore GP. Gasly was well ahead of Sebastian Vettel in seventh place before he was called in on lap 33 to switch to slicks. This let Vettel jump him as he stopped on a later lap.
He said after the race:
“We didn’t do a good job. We were seventh, ahead of two Aston Martins, [we had] track position, everything in our hands and we threw it away because we decided to box too early."
“There was no communication, no dialogue, which I don’t fully understand. We took a gamble in a moment where we didn’t need to."
Gasly continued:
“We boxed, everybody stayed out on track and we got overcut. I’m very disappointed for all of the team because we drop to ninth in the team’s championship. Nine we lost, nine important points.”
It would have been possible to finish 5th instead of 10th, and Gasly was quite disappointed by the team's management and strategy for the race.
